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The Rockefeller Center in New York City kicked off on October 27, Mexico Week, an event filled with cultural activities, exhibitions, food, and an artisan market. The second annual gathering commemorates the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), celebrated yearly on November 1 and 2.
To ensure the authenticity of Mexico Week, the center also partners with the Consulate General of Mexico in New York City, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
At the exhibition, guests cans enjoy stunning and elegant catrinas designed by Cesar Menchaca. Other sculptures were also created to honor American and Mexican artists, such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Diego Rivera, Marilyn Monroe, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Bouquets of marigold flowers are also on display to complete the ofrenda (altar in memory of the departed), surrounded by skulls, candles, and tequila, in honor of Mexican sculptors. The altar also features Menchaca’s alebrijes of mystical animals.
Día de Muertos is a Catholic holiday celebrated in Mexico and elsewhere who observe All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. The two-day festivities (November 1 and November 2) involves prayers, ofrendas, parades, cookouts, and more. It is unknown the exact period this tradition started; however, some Mexican academics believe it has indigenous pre-hispanic roots, while others think that it might be a 20th-century tradition adapted from Spain to encourage Mexican nationalism.
In other Spanish-speaking countries, the festivity is part of the Hispanic Catholic festival and is commonly called Día de Los Muertos, or Día de Los Fieles Difuntos. The observance in Mexico has become a national symbol; therefore, in 2008, a committee requested to UNESCO the adoption of an agenda to declare the tradition an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.